Putin: "Saddam planned attacks on US"

[RonOnGuitar]

Saddam planned attacks on US: Putin



June 19, 2004 - 8:05AM





Russia warned Washington before the Iraq war that Saddam Hussein's regime was preparing attacks against the United States and its interests abroad, President Vladimir Putin said.



Putin said he couldn't comment on how critical the Russians' information was in US decision to invade Iraq. However, he said the intelligence didn't cause Russia to waver from its firm opposition to the war.



"Indeed, after September 11, 2001, and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, the Russian special services ... received information that officials from Saddam's regime were preparing terrorist attacks in the United States and outside it against the US military and other interests," Putin said.



"Despite that information ... Russia's position on Iraq remains unchanged," Putin said in the Kazakh capital Astana after a regional economic and security summit.



Putin said Russia didn't have any information that Saddam's regime had actually been behind any terrorist acts.



He didn't elaborate on any details of the terror plots or mention whether they were tied to the al-Qaeda terror network.



Putin said the United States had thanked Russia for the information.



A commission investigating the September 11 attacks in the United States reported this week that while there were contacts between al-Qaeda and Iraq, they did not appear to have produced "a collaborative relationship."



However, US President George W Bush alleged that Saddam had "numerous contacts" with al-Qaeda and said Iraqi agents had met with the terror network's leader, Osama bin Laden, in Sudan.



Saddam "was a threat because he had terrorist connections - not only al-Qaeda connections, but other connections to terrorist organisations," Bush said.